For more than 10 years companies want to have “conversations” with the target audience. Today, we can say that “joint he conversation” is really dead. Why?

Brands do not want to converse!

Most of the conversations where brands are named go unnoticed and are never answered. The only place where brands do react seems to be Twitter because it is pretty public and it is one the customer service tools companies use.

So social media is the PUSH platform where companies post messages but no to start conversations which is really the thing about social. Even Facebook has seen this is even further reducing the reach of fan pages.

The miracle workers? Brand and companies are now swiching to influencer marketing to get their messages seen. And this too, is quickly coming to a standstil. Why? These influencers don’t do it fort he conversation either. Let’s be honest they do it fort he money!

Another route seems to be using advocacy programs but here the shoe drops when it comes to the content which is not attractive for your advocates to share and start conversations around.

Customers do not converse either!

Have you talked to a logo? It does not say much back, does it… Customers want conversations with real people. You share ideas in a two-way street and just a one-way street. It should be collaborative but it is not! Thus end of the conversation!

The best brands can hope is a comment once in a while but again this is one way (see above).

The miracle workers? Companies are using their employees to talk to clients . Let’s call this employee advocacy. And again,most posts do not have it in them to start conversations so why should employees share that content? WIIIFM does not appear in the social selling handbooks!

Sociale media is no longer about conversations!

The days of conversations and organic reach are numbered. Today, it is all about who has the deepest pockets to pay for content to be seem. Guess what, we are going back to the last century with the billboards!

Most of the social media people are becoming the new advertising sales people. And again, they are only concerned about the one-way traffic and have never heard about conversations.

Social media 2018 is all about buying (or selling) advertising to reach target groups. Where did the conversation go in there?

Even in my domain of social selling I am finding that sales people and marketers are more focused on advertising and not having conversations with clients (as is the case in real life).

The miracle worker? Time to learn the art of advertizing and forget about the conversation.

There we go, vented my frustration about the lack of conversations. In the meantime, I continue to find like Don Quichotte against the windmills to convince companies and social sellers to start conversations. People do business with people and NOT logo’s (whatever these LOVE brand make you believe).

Unless you are willing to pay…

Over the course of the last months, social media networks are crusading for real human interaction and engagement which I support. This comes as a bit of bad news for those people trying to do personal branding from real personal accounts. And yes, people looked at forms of automation (just like marketers do with marketing automation) but that is coming to a standstill or better slowdown.

In March 2018, Twitter undertook efforts to reduce the spam or similar tweets and no longer allows tweets to be posted from Hootsuite & Buffer to multiple accounts. As of August 1st, 2018 you can no longer use tools like Hootsuite or Buffer to post to personal profiles. LinkedIn has never supported any planning of messages from the platform but I wonder when they will banish posting via Hootsuite and Buffer and others.

Here is what the situation of the current automation of Facebook:

Content posting platforms such as Hootsuite, Buffer and alike -> GONE

Action/reaction tools like IFTTT or Zapier -> GONE

Auto post from Twitter to Facebook -> GONE

Employee Advocacy programs have to adapt but -> REMAIN

Share buttons on a website and others -> REMAIN

Auto post from Facebook to Twitter -> REMAIN

Auto post from LinkedIn to Twitter -> REMAIN

Click-2-Tweet unchanged -> REMAIN

But wait, could your account get suspended on Twitter for (Re)tweeting the standard text that is presented to you but the website, newspaper, Click-2-tweet or even the Employee Advocacy platforms? That remains to be seen…

Result = Let the money roll!

People who want to do personal branding are now forced to move a page on Facebook which drives your right to the Facebook bank. Since posts on pages get very limited traction, visibility, and impressions, you will have to pay for your personal branding (sponsored content) just like large corporations. Where is the authenticity in that?

Final thought

But here is the contradiction, while these platforms want you to post as a human being, they are bringing more and more bots online. This automation seems to be okay. Really?

Recruiting via social media just a little more interesting in Belgium. LinkedIn, the uncrowned champion for recruitment is now being challenged by Facebook and their job vacancy post.

Of course, people will say that LinkedIn is the platform to find “white” collar workers and Facebook “blue” collar workers but let’s be honest both categories use Facebook so the pool there is much bigger (in Belgium 3.4 million vs 7 million).

From an employer’s point of view, this offers some great opportunities and challenges. So let the battle begin.

The incumbent LinkedIn

LinkedIn recently changed the “job” vacancy approach. Here is a quick rundown of the process:

1. Define the basic job title and area

2. Complete the description

3. Define Skills and Experience levels

4. Payment options

You will notice that LinkedIn will indicate the number of candidates you might get after 30 days based on your budget. I get mixed messages from customers when it comes to results but I am sure LinkedIn will argue that it is the best way platform overall.

Now enters Facebook

Now that Facebook has added “Publish a Job Post”, I fear that this will become more popular than LinkedIn… Let take a look at the process here too:

Select the option for the post types

2. Enter the job description info

The biggest difference is that this is a post on your page and gets organic views. No just like any other post on Facebook you will need to increase the visibility by boosting (aka promoting) this post.

3. Payment options

There seems to be 9€/day minimum budget required by Facebook but the numbers here a little different. Rather than giving you an idea of how many people you might get to apply, Facebook will tell you how many people you could reach.

If you are looking for a more cost-efficient way to create visibility for your job openings on LinkedIn (on Facebook that is already the case), you might be considering posting the job openings as a public post on your company/fan page and promoting the post as “promoted content”. The final bill will be considerably less and your targeting options increased. Now whether the platforms will react quicker to this “improper” use of the platform is to be seen.

So, who will win the battle for talent? Or should I say, the “war for your money”? Not sure, but an interesting development altogether. What do you think? Drop your comments in the comment box below.

Today, I would like to feature a guest blog from a good friend of mine, Melonie Dodaro on the topic of Social Selling. In her latest book, she describes how salespeople can unlock the power of LinkedIn in the sales process to generate lead and do prospecting efficiently. So here it goes…

“We have entered an era of digital transformation that has completely changed the way people buy. As a result, businesses, marketers, and sellers, need to adapt to stay relevant and competitive in attracting the modern buyer.

We have experienced more change in the last decade than anyone could have possibly imagined.

To attract today’s buyer, it requires a shift in the sales dialogue from “What can I sell you?” to “How can I help you?”

Today your personal brand is more important than it’s ever been as people are looking to find out more about an individual before they do business with them.

Seven seconds is all you have to wow a potential client. Your social selling success is dependent on how your LinkedIn profile represents your personal brand.

With all of these challenges, there is still tremendous opportunity. You now have tools available to you to connect directly with your ideal prospects, with the click of a button.

And while everyone has been talking about social media for years, few talk about the power of LinkedIn. I believe many businesses ignore LinkedIn for two primary reasons:

It isn’t sexy.

It isn’t fun or exciting.

While LinkedIn may not be exciting, getting new clients and having a successful business certainly is!

There are five crucial steps that will turn LinkedIn into a highly predictable lead generator for you; I call this The LINK Method™.

In the infographic below I will share with you the five-step process, what you need to have in your profile to attract your ideal clients, trigger events that allow you to build relationships with your prospects on LinkedIn, how to leverage existing relationships, and much more.

Are you interested in discovering how to turn LinkedIn into a lead generation machine? Take a look at the infographic below:

I believe that when you stop collecting connections and start building relationships, you increase trust, credibility and attract more clients. This is vital because effective social selling is all about building relationships and trust.

The beauty of LinkedIn is that it is a platform that was designed to help you find, connect and then build a relationship and trust with the exact group of people that comprise your target audience.

Yet people continue to make two very serious mistakes with LinkedIn and social selling.

Mistake #1: They rush to a sale right after connecting with a potential prospect.

Mistake #2: They never move the conversation offline, or don’t know how to, as it’s offline that you convert a prospect to a client.

In LinkedIn Unlocked you will learn a step-by-step system that will help you generate a steady stream of new leads, clients, and sales on LinkedIn in under 30 minutes a day.

To celebrate the launch of LinkedIn Unlocked, there is also $221 in free bonuses, including a companion workbook with all of the exercises, worksheets and templates provided in the book. Click here now to learn more about LinkedIn Unlocked and the exclusive bonuses.”

You have your EA program completely wrong!

Let’s start clarifying with a definition: “Employee advocacy” is a term used to describe the exposure that employees generate for brands using their own online assets. While social media is often the main medium for employee advocacy, these “online assets” include email, chat, forums, discussion boards and more.” (Source: Linkhumans).

Going through a large number of post on how to start an Employee Advocacy Program, I found the following recurring elements. Most include some kind of a mission; creating trust and freedom quickly followed by social media policy (of course); a set of advocacy tools; some kind of an incentive plan; company generated and focused content; and finally possibly some training.

The focus of the program is on Reach and KPIs as measurement criteria. Though this might make sense from a company’s point of view, it does not from the advocate’s point of view.

What is really needed to get to advocacy going is “Passion”. Few (or no) programs are addressing this. Let me dig a little deeper on what I mean by passion.

Passion for the company

Passionate employee are those that pay attention to the company’s strategies and tactics. They follow every step the company is taking to be successful. Sometimes they might question these steps. They see their role in that success. They defend their company every time without being asked and not because someone in the company ordered them. Most importantly, they are not motivated by money.

Without that passion there is no employee advocacy.

Passion for the culture

Companies must have a passionate work culture that translates into devotion, recognition and long-term employment. Open communications, honesty are key components that must exist within the company. A lot of the times, you team culture springs to mind. And as the expression goes: there is no I in Team! And yes, EA is about creating trust and freedom!

Without that passion there is no employee advocacy.

Passion for products and services

The next level is that your employees need to be passionate about their products and services. They see how these products make a difference and what their contribution to that success is. It makes them proud!

Without that passion there is no employee advocacy.

Passion for helping

Yet another key element for advocacy is that you give freely without expecting any immediate return or otherwise stated the giver does not specify what should be given in return but rather accepts that the recipient is free might decide to give something at some point. As a giver you are trying to add value to your network and community.

Without that passion there is no employee advocacy.

Passion for social

Employees also have to have a passion for social media. And I do not mean obsessed with constant updates but more about that internal fire to share and contribute without asking the ‘return’ questions. So if they have no or limited social media accounts they will not suddenly create them and start sharing information because you ask them (via a amplification platform using gamification techniques).

Without that passion there is no employee advocacy.

Passion for personal branding

Finally, there must be a need/want of the employee to do personal branding and that using content that is either handed to them or they curated/created themselves. The WIIIFM factor is and must be high and add value to the network of the individual.

And yes, there is an “I” in team when it comes to employee advocacy. Here is the magic formula:

Employee Advocacy = Team + I

Without that passion there is no employee advocacy.

Remember that Passion and authenticity are hard to fake and people see through it easily. Of course, this comes at a cost: the cost of failing and changing direction at some point. That’s okay because it lets you know it is time to move on and follow new passions.

So when you set up an Employee Advocacy program releasethe passion first!

The low hanging fruit for ambassadorship is Employee Advocacy and yet many (not to say most) companies are failing miserably at it.

Why and what to get it on the rails of for many one of the burning questions on the table.

4 golden rules for Employee Advocacy and Sharing

When it comes to Employee Advocacy there are 4 golden and simple rules:

You employees follow your company accounts

There is a culture of sharing

The WIIIFM factor (for the employees) of posts is high

Content is generated by the employees

Let’s take a look at the above rules and answer the question of why and what

Employees follow corporate accounts

This seems so obvious but it is not. Sometimes because companies have not asked, sometimes because of ignorance and even sometime because employee choose not to. Few companies take the time to promote their own social accounts internally even though externally thousands of dollars/euros are spent to get followers/fans. Companies assume employees will find and follow the accounts anyway. But how do you expect your employees to look for them and even going one step further to share from there.

Why not run an internal campaign to promote social media accounts and content as first step to true Employee Advocacy?

Sharing culture

It must be said that some people and even nations share more than others. Us Belgians are renounded for not sharing. Sharing must be encouraged (via the social media policy) and done by example. The management team and the social media lead by example for the rest of the organization to follow. How do you expect employees to share what management and others do not share themselves.

Social media usage (also for private reasons during worktime) must be encouraged but forced upon your employees.

Oh by-the-way, the corporate account might want to share some of the content posted by its employees and this without being told to do so.

WIIIFM

People share if the content they share makes them look good of entertaining to their audience, friends, fans and followers. As a company post creator you should keep that in mind and not the promotion of company products and/or services. Most company post do not hold the potential for people to share and look good!

User-Generated Content

Sharing is a 2-way process and successful posts have a high level of human factor embedded in them. Showing off your employees (and no, they will not be stolen away from you) and their content will make sharing so much more attractive. One step further is using content from your employees on your corporate account will dramatically increase even more the level of sharing. See it as a pat on the back and recognition for having great content.

And then there are tools

Since Employee Advocacy is seen as the golden egg, companies are looking for ways to make it hatch faster. Here come the tools to help (aka“force”) the sharing actions. These tools even come with incentive programs (gamification) to make sharing even more attractive. But gamification will only work so long. In my humble opinion no longer than 3 to 6 months. And yes, internal promotion will be required. Let me clear these tools have their role to play and are a good way to kick start social sharing of company posts but they are no longtime cure. There are a lot of great tools out there to help you with social sharing and employee advocacy.

However, the real cure lies in adhering to the above 4 rules to make Employee Advocacy a success!

Feel free to agree of disagree with me and sharing this in the comment field below.

Every company wants to its employees to be its best ambassadors but few succeed. You do not know how many companies ask me how they turn their employees into advocates. But what they do not realize is the WIIIFM factor it requires to get employees to share.

The whole concept of Employee Advocacy is good, but it being implemented with the wrong approach. Companies are looking at quick fixes with a LinkedIn, Twitter or even social media training or implementing a piece of software to easily share content but this does not get employees to move.

Why? Because it is not about:

Forcing your employees to share content on their personal channels

Asking them to share (un)authentic content (because sharer wants to be authentic!)

Only share company branded content

Gamifying the sharing process

In one word: WIIIFM (from the sharer’s point of view) is completely missing

Employee advocacy will only happen if you invest in your employees both offline and online. If the culture is not right, people with not share (in the real world as well as in the new world).

Where should your focus go to?

Have your employees create content (“what I create I share!” increase WIIIFM) – I dare you to let go!

Create corporate content that makes your employees look good when they share – it is not about you but about them!

Share employee content of corporate accounts to show you cherish them – Give and Receive!

Give them the freedom to create content but provide guidance and training to up the quality – Trust!

Another key component is your management buy-in, support and of course, lead-by-example. If your management is absent or not sharing why should your employees?

Over the course of the next weeks, I will be sharing more tips on how you can setup your employee advocacy programs. In the meantime, I love to hear your biggest hurdles with employee advocacy.

You will probably recognize the following scenario. You enroll for a training or webinar to learn new things. During the session there are a lot’s of tips and tricks you think you should implement but as you are keeping up with the pace, they get lost. And then we all suffer from the “I will do it tomorrow” syndrome. However, the next day we either forget or fall victim to our hectic business-as-usual where other fires have to be put out. Finally, we only implement less than 10% of what we learned.

I see this happening to too when people who learn all about LinkedIn or Social Media in trainings. As a trainer it is frustrating that all your good tips & tricks were no implemented (in the spur on the moment).

Recently, I came across an interesting app called Sombrero which actually starts where you left of in your social media training. This app acts as you guide and teacher but in small bits on a daily basis. I tried the app myself first and then spoke with the people from Sotrender, the company behind this app.

Getting started is simple!

Installing the app is easy and so is setting it up. Register your social media profiles like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and the small tasks start rolling in. The nice thing is that the app takes babysteps as the task are simple and take very short time to complete. The app gives you a real sense of accomplishment but still you are moving forward to professionalizing your social media presence. True, if you are already active the first days/week might be boring but it provides some good benchmarking on where you are.

As you move along the timeline, tasks become a bit more challenging but reflect how you should be running your social media. I found a great complement to my training program.

It is not all sunshine, of course!

What caught my attention is that there is bit of confusion around the target profiles: personal vs company profiles. The app wants to serve both and it is not always clear which way it tilts.

Since I mostly focus on B2B, LinkedIn is a major component. Unfortunately, this bit is missing today. I understand it will be coming in next versions.

Another little drawback is the fact that it is an English-only version and my feeling tells me that the audience best served is not always used to work in English.

Must-do!

Since this app is free (and there is no catch) and very educational, I think you try it on your smartphone or tablet. I am convinced that you will learn a thing or two even if you have some experience. The app really delivers when it comes pushing your boundaries and boosting your online performance.